[Fifth Fleet, Pisces] Training days.

For three weeks, the Fifth Standard Fleet's infantry division had been training. All of a sudden, after years of doing nothing, waiting to be given orders, waiting to do something in the war, they had been mustered. No more easy days of keeping watch over the station, no more time of being those background soldiers who never did anything but served to make the empire look better on paper.

The fleet itself, was mobilizing. Ships, having been berthed at Pisces, or orbiting Yamatai, doing hardly anything, were all moving, all getting cleaned, getting set up. New munitions, new weapons, new sailors, new whatever. The old fleet, gone through so many changes, lain in wait for so long, was alive, once more. They were preparing for something. If one were to approach, to wander the halls of one of the older ships, just recently churning back to life, they would feel it. Anticipation. Excitement. Fear.

Wonder.

******

Within Pisces station, Nekovalkyrja and Yamataians were getting ready. A few Nepleslians sprinkled here and there throughout the ranks were training just as hard, not to be outdone, especially when outnumbered. Within all the chaos, all the simulations, the training, the wargames, the classes, the PT, the daily grind, a kind of life was being adjusted to. No longer sedentary, no longer content to simply run a drill or two every month, they were serious this time.

Within the First (and only) infantry division, in the second Brigade, It's first regiment, The second Battalion, The fourth company, Fourth platoon; Squad Three collectively groaned.

PT was once again a run. They were to run the entire station, up each arm and back. 63 Kilometers. That was the length of today's run.

"Why the F*** are we doing this again, Gunny?" The squad's XO asked her CO.
"We need to make sure that we are all in shape." The blonde CO, 'Gunny', answered.
"We're Nekovalkyrja. We're always in shape!" the XO retorted.
"Now, Now, Boomy. Hawkeye, Flash, and Ratchet aren't complaining." Gunny pointed out, trying to assuage her.
"They Never complain. And what about Roadrunner? Doc? Hammer?" The dark-skinned XO countered.
"Roadrunner's already a Kilometer ahead of us."
"Doc and hammer, then?"
"They don't run quite as fast, you know that."
"So if they were complaining, they're too far back for you to hear, eh?"
"They can contact us at that range if they felt it necessary. So it would seem you're the only one complaining." Gunny smirked.
Boomy sighed, defeated. "Fine, Fine! I'll keep up. But you still didn't give me a good enough reason for why we're running. Who's idea was it this time, anyway?"
"Mine." Gunny answered, grinning broadly.
"WHY YOU EVIL BITCH, I'M GONNA-"
"You're going to what? Strike a superior?" Gunny was quite smug.
Boomy growled "I'll get you back for this..." under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."

Pisces Station. Most of the day later.

The Seven Nekovalkyrja stood in front of their barracks, panting, clouds of steam rising from their mouths as their bodies overworked themselves to get rid of excess heat. Unable to sweat, they couldn't rid themselves of the massive amount of heat created by their physical activity very efficiently, and it showed, with each breath sending another whitish puff of steam out of their mouths.

After a few minutes, when the puffs of steam began to diminish, and the Nekovalkyrja were again able to breath almost normally, the CO began to speak.

"Today, you received a test of stamina. All of you passed, some with flying colors, some by the skin of your ass. However, I am confident in our abilities as soldiers in Running- Yes, Hammer?" Gunny started, interrupted in the middle of her speech by the largest member of their group raising her hand.
"Won't we always be fighting in Powered armor?" Hammer asked, seeming to wonder why they had run on their own power for so long. Boomy smirked, feeling vindicated.
"The Power armor don't last forever. We need to be able to go, under our own power, at least as far as the PA can take us on land." the CO answered. Hammer nodded, seeming satisfied. Boomy once again appeared defeated.
"As I was saying, I think I can trust you all in terms of stamina," Gunny continued, "and won't have to worry in case something does happen, and we're required to hoof it back to base. Because you all passed, tomorrow, you get your first day off in three weeks, so you better enjoy it."
Roadrunner perked up, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet, and Hawkeye, next to her, quietly looked slightly less unamused than usual. The other squad members, as well, seemed to all look like their spirits were suddenly raised, even the begrudged Boomy could not argue with a day off.
"However," Gunny began again, looking to her squad, "We need to make sure you all properly recover, so, Doc, I'm going to have to ask you to check everybody over, and then you all need to go and get some food before you're dismissed."
Doc, the medic, nodded to her orders, and then looked around, realizing she had none of her supplies, except a small first-aid kit she had brought for the run.
"Um, Sir, am I allowed to use the Medbay for this?" she asked
"Of course you are," Gunny responded, "why wouldn't you be?"
"Oh. It's just that we haven't used it in so long, that I can't remember if the policy changed or not..." Doc started, before being cut off by Boomy.
"The policy didn't change, Doc, it's your Medbay, after all."
"Right, sorry. Well then, Ladies, why don't we line up?"
"You heard her, Girls!" Gunny piped up, perking all the squad members up and getting their attention "Line up for the Medbay, and hurry it up!"
"Yes Sir!" sang a chorus of Nekovalkyrja voices.

Roughly twenty-four hours had passed since the end of Gunny's 'test'. The girls, after their day of leave, were beginning to arrive back at the barracks. It had been quite the day, and more than one of them had traveled nearly the same distance as they had the day before, though this time in a much more relaxed manner, and with the aid of a vehicle or their gravity manipulation abilities.

It was an odd juxtaposition, what the girls had decided to do with their time and what little wages they had available to them. The first to arrive, punctual as always, was Gunny. She wore a wide-brimmed straw hat and sunglasses, for no other reason than she wanted to. They seemed to work well with her blonde hair and white sundress, and she looked considerably less military than any of the girls had ever seen her, even before they had been a truly active unit.

Second, arrived Hammer. The large Neko, with her more well-built figure, was wearing what seemed to be a sort of workout uniform, though not the standard-issue one that everyone had. This one was instead a deep purple, and more of a unitard than the panties and T-shirt that normally comprised the female exercise uniform. She carried with her a rolled up mat, and a number of larger-than-average ankle and wrist weights, because, apparently, they did not already have enough exercise equipment. Hammer grunted quietly, dropping her loot on the ground before bowing to the CO.

Doc soon followed Hammer, carrying a half-empty picnic basket full of bread and other ingredients to make sandwiches, with a blanket over her shoulder. She was also sporting what appeared to be a pair of thick-rimmed eyeglasses, but a certain slight glow to the lenses hinted at some other functions.

Ratchet and Flash showed up next, together, and slung over each of their shoulders was a bag full of their day's shopping, and in their free hands were half-eaten ice cream cones. Ratchet's bag was, not surprisingly, full of specialty tools, but it also contained a boxed model kit of the TASHA M9. Flash's bag was full of some clothing, and several party poppers, but for what purpose nobody knew except her.

Next appeared Boomy, the unhappy looking Dark-skinned Neko carryying a brilliantly colored bundle in her arms, which also appeared to sport a set of legs, and what was probably a head on the other side, considering the hair and ears. "Found her lying asleep on a bench." Was all that Boomy said, and it was then that those currently gathered realized the multicolored bundle was a very sound asleep Hawkeye, covered in all manner of colorful scarves and shawls, much to the contrary of her shy, reserved, and quiet personality. As for Boomy herself, it seemed she'd had her hair put into dreadlocks, and generally allowed herself to be pampered, as she looked and smelled quite freshened.

That left one squad member. Roadrunner. Easily the fastest member of the group, and one of the most easily excitable and definitely the most energetic member of 'team 43' as they often termed themselves. She was nowhere to be found. So the squad waited, and, after several minutes, a dull scraping sound could be heard. They looked on, wondering at what the source was. Hawkeye stirred, beginning to stretch and yawn. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and looked up at Boomy, then over toward the source of the noise- A figure rounded the corner. It was Roadrunner. Behind her, she dragged a Pipe, about three and a half feet in length, and obviously heavy enough that she didn't feel like carrying the entire thing. As she dragged it, it scraped a slight gouge in the hallway floor.

Hawkeye blinked, and rubbed her eyes again, wondering if she was still dreaming.

"WH-What is that?" Gunny asked, incredulous.
"Pipe." Roadrunner answered, simply, half-shrugging.

It had been several weeks of hard training. PT, drills, classes, more PT, More drills, drills again, briefings and rebriefings, everything was getting more and more busy, as the Fifth fleet ramped up its operations in preparation for their planned invasion.

And they knew it now- That's what they would be doing. Planetary invasion. On a planet the Mishhu wanted to hold. It wouldn't be like before- Blitz tactics sending a flighty enemy on the run, surprise hit-and-run attacks that were over in a few minutes, with the attackers leaving. This was a full-on invasion. The Target, a jungle world known as HX-13, which apparently had some human 'Natives' as well as apparently had been the site of the loss of some SAoY ships. The YSS Eucharis had been there, and done a mission, and because of the information it brought back, it was decided that the planet was a good candidate for a first try at something new.

They were going to invade, dig out rooted in invaders, overtake the entire planet, and then occupy it. This was something the SAoY had never actually done before. The equipment had been designed for other purposes. The soldiers made for operations in space. The ships meant for quick operations. This would be a baptism of fire, to see if the Star Army could do it, to see what they needed.

******

An instructor had been droning on for hours. He was Nepleslian, contracted from that nation to help better prepare the untested ground forces for what they were supposedly trained for- ground warfare. So far, he had been talking about the importance of logistics, about keeping an eye on your ammunition supplies and other necessities for fighting a prolonged campaign. He discussed in detail the merits of cover, and how to properly fire from behind cover, how to find an effective firing position, how best to look for enemies without making yourself a target, and, how to keep yourself safe from indirect fire weaponry.

On that last subject, he had gone into different types of are-of-effect weaponry, including standard artillery, shrapnel rounds, incendiaries, and, finally, Gas rounds and biological weapons.

Flash was terrified. She had listened contently to most of what the man had said, about how easy it was to hide from many types of artillery by simply being behind a thick enough wall, or inside a strong enough building. That was fine. But the Gas rounds. The Biological weapons. They wafted about, floating through cracks and seams. they got into your system, and did horrible things. Poisons. Toxins. Acids. Viruses. Mutations. Kaserine.

The Neko trembled. Nevermind the fact that most of them didn't even affect Nekovalkyrja, Hotaru Oonishi had suddenly become a hypochondriac. Flash clung tightly to Ratchet, whom was busily trying to extricate herself from the other Neko, instead of actually listening to what the instructor had to say. Boomy, several seats away, was glaring, and occasionally swatting at Flash, trying to snap her out of it, but to no avail.

******

Several hours after the class, Team 43 was relaxing back in their barracks. It would be one of the last days before deploying to the front. Well, most of them were, anyway. One of them was missing- Flash.

"What was up with her, anyway?" Doc asked the tender-armed Ratchet, whom was rubbing the nearly bruised section of her shoulder that Flash had so tightly gripped for so very long.
"I think she was freaked out by one of the things that instructor said, which is weird..." the technician answered, seeming none too happy about the whole deal. "Something about the Bio-weapons I think?"
"It's not like most of those even affect Neko anyway" Doc answered, shrugging, before the door whooshed open and a booted, AMES-clad figure appeared in the doorway.

All chatter stopped, but then, after pausing for a second or two, the AMES-clad figure spoke up. "Hey guys."

It was Flash. There was a collective groan, and more than one of the members of Team 43 placed their faces into the palms of their hands.

The sound of gunfire would have been deafening, were it not for their helmets. The Eight of them stood, or rather, crouched, kneeled, Ducked, and otherwise hid, around an extremely large tree. Low-hanging branches, Large gnarled roots, and clumps of parasitic plants doing what they could- not so much to stop the enemy bullets and lasers that were so loudly making their way through the rainforest, but rather to hide the figures of the girls of Team 43.

They were pinned down, fire coming from the fore, already they had taken damage, but all were still in fighting condition. Hammer was doing what she could to try and Cover fire for the movements of her teammates, Gunny ordered people around depending on where she needed them to be firing from, Boomy was doing her best to sneak forward and find a nice spot to start lobbing explosives at the targets, and Hawkeye had climbed the tree, looking for a better vantage point, but that was all but impossible- despite advanced sensors, the Jungle foliage was thicker than anything they had known short of Pure Zesuaium.

Flash, Or rather, AMES, as she had now been dubbed, due to her sudden phobia, was curled up behind a thick bit of root, feeling utterly helpless- Her plasma thrower lacked the range to hit the enemies around them, and she didn't know what else to do- Gunny was too busy with everyone else to give her orders. She sat there, watching as even Doc contributed to the fight, watching the shuffling on her sensors as Ratchet and and roadrunner were moved about from firing position to firing position, trying to get a bead on an enemy they couldn't even see.

They were screwed. It was hopeless. They'd been out of training for too long, gotten used to such a good life, and now, Bam. Stuck in the middle of combat. RATATATATAT. THUMP. A red warning on Hotaru Oonishi's HUD showed her who had gone down- It was Doc. She had stayed in place too long, and the enemy had found her. A series of gauss rounds to the head had taken her out much quicker than one would have expected, considering the reputation Power Armors had. Flash curled tighter, but then she heard her name called over the Comms.

"AMES! Get your ass over Here! We need you to clear some foliage!" Gunny called, and the young Flamethrower specialist gulped, knowing that meant she was going into the line of fire. She uncurled, and targeted the spot Gunny had designated on the HUD. A quick burst of her fusion thrusters brought her into the area she needed. She could hear the Rattling of Hammer's LASR as the overburdened Neko tried to provide covering fire for everyone. Flash Grimaced, and pulled the trigger. A gout of superheated flames sprayed out of the flamethrower, catching what looked like the entire jungle on fire, but it didn't hold- soon the plants had extinguished themselves, as damp as everything was. Flash Whimpered.

*KOOSH.. THU-BANG!* The sound of a Mortar round from close range made Hotaru jump- another red light accompanied it- Hammer was down too. The other girls did what they could, but now they had no reliable covering fire. The enemy closed in. Stuttering fire could be heard from above- Hawkeye had located the enemies. A number of thuds ahead of them could be heard as precision fire downed some enemies. Flash moved again, spending some fuel on another gout of flames in the same spot- luckily it caught the second time, and began burning, covering the area in a thick heavy smoke.

"Good Work, Ames, Now Get You-" Gunny's voice cut off, replaced by an explosion. They were without a leader. Flash retreated, back to where Ratchet was, when the staccato sound of a rifle firing could be heard, followed by a number of small explosions, and then, one big explosion lit up the forest in front of them- Boomy was out too. That left four of them.

"Who's In charge now?" Roadrunner asked the remaining Hei's as she grouped up with Flash and Ratchet, covering for herself on an enemy she still could barely locate, despite being a scout.
"I'll do it." A quiet voice responded- it was Hawkeye. "I can see them. Roadrunner, Flank Left, Ratchet, Take the right. Ames, I need you to flush them out of the middle." She ordered the three on the ground around, but she didn't seem too sure of her orders. it was fairly obvious from the fact she was even speaking much that she was stressed, though.

Hotaru got up again, her knees shaking, thankfully suppressed by her Daisy armor. She gulped once more, and vaulted over the root in front of her as the other two Neko went around the sides. Flash didn't even think after this point, she simply rushed forward, her fing holding down the trigger of her plasma thrower. The other girls did the same, witht heir respective weapons. the two LASR's rattled, their noise competing with the crackling of the underbrush, Joined every once in a while by the sound of precise fire from Hawkeye, but that didn't last long- a rocket hit the tree, detabilizing it, then a second, causing it to fall. Hawkeye boosted out of the tree, but it wasn't much use- she was out in the open- a third rocket promptly turned the Sniper into a cloud of debris.

"G-Guys, whaddowedo?" Flash rattled off, but there was no answer- it was only just now that she realized the two other rifles had been silenced as well- She was alone. Flash would have screamed, but she realized there was no use to it. Desperate, she activated her plasma thrusters and just charged. Soon, she found herself in a clearing- it was fresh, and she was grimly reminded that it had probably been a result of Boomy's end- A clearing full of none other than Rippers. This time, she did scream, along with unload every single weapon on her armor at the nearest Ripper. It went down, but the only thing she had left was her flamethrower, and that proved ineffective.

Several Aether beams lanced through her torso, and one of the Rippers lurched forward, and jammed it Zesuaium blade into her face.

Suddenly, everything dematerialized, and Hotaru found herself slung limply within the confines of her Simulation harness. She was breathing very heavily, and would have been soaked with Sweat had she been capable of it. her whole body shook, and all she wanted to do was get out, get her AMES on, and curl up in her Bunk. This had NOT been a good training simulation. They had all died.

Hotaru briefly looked up, and saw her score- She had failed. Despite having lived the longest, she had gotten the lowest score on the simulation out of the eight members of her squad. What a disappointment.

The rattle of chemical rifles was quite apparent, as the Eight members of Team 43 were assaulted by Mass-produced infantry. The lightly armed and armored Neko and Nepleslian clones were hopelessly under-gunned when it came to fighting the squad of power-armored infantry, and, were it not a simulation, the scene would have been quite sad. It was, however, comical for the moment.

A single shot from a LASR was more than enough to deal with an enemy Infantry unit; sometimes several if they were lined up. Their simulated corpses piled up around the squad of Daisy armors, whom had simply formed into a circle and let their enemies come to them. Occasionally, the circle of digital bodies grew too large, and the Daisy armors lifted off almost as one, to land in another location, sometimes directly on top of their enemies; easily crushing them.

Unlike other simulations, this one was more about conserving resources than defeating a difficult foe- it would be quite simple for those running the simulation to give their enemies heavier weaponry and make it more dangerous, but right now, they were just seeing how long the girls could last against a swarm. So far, they had defeated 8 waves of around 100 light infantry, and were running a little low on ammunition, but it wasn't like they were completely out. Still, the squad was starting to allow their enemies to come in closer- sure, it increased the chances of a lucky shot doing damage, but it also increased the accuracy and effectiveness of the squad's own weapons.

"This is kind of sick." Ratchet muttered, feeling that what they were doing was somewhat distasteful- They had at one point been created as mass-produced soldiers, though they had grown past that, but still, the scene was a bit grim as far as the techie was concerned.

"Well, this could actually happen on the field." Gunny reminded, sounding almost as if she was bored.

"And sometimes We'll run into enemies when other things have run us low- we'll need to be resourceful. They're testing us when we're tired and low on ammo." Boomy added.

"Luckily we haven't taken any damage though," Doc offered, "I'd hate to try and treat someone with this many enemies coming after us."

"You may have to though" Hawkeye muttered.

Doc turned her head- in fact, most of the squad did- It wasn't often that Hawkeye spoke, but their momentary draw of attention was for naught, as she seemed to have become silent immediately after.

"Aww, shit, now they're really close" Hammer complained, pausing her fire for a second to bludgeon a Nepleslian with her rifle- He'd managed to sneak up while she was distracted- before returning to shooting at the further advancing enemy.

"Shut it, Girls, Let's just focus on the objective" Gunny ordered, to which she recieved several "Roger!'s", "Hai's", and even a couple groans.

The eight droned on, continuing lay on the fire, their scores slowly racking up.


Just another day in Simulation.